Photography and Videography

Maybe you’re a bird lover who doesn’t know your f-stop from your ISO speed. Or maybe you’re an experienced photographer who’s starting to discover the charms of the things with feathers. Whatever brings you to the world of bird photography, we’ve got the instruction, pro tips, gear recs, and inspiration you’ll need to get settled in.

Recent Photography Stories

A tawny female North Cardinal faces the camera, head cocked, while taking a bath, its red wings extended upward as droplets of water surround the bird and fill the frame. The water below reflects the bird’s body and the droplets.
Audubon Photography Awards

Our Favorite Female Bird Shots From the 2023 Audubon Photography Awards

By Martha Harbison
July 18, 2023 — Marvel at the beauty and ingenuity of 14 birds that often get overlooked.
Audubon Photography Awards

The 2023 Audubon Photography Awards: The Top 100

By The Editors
June 28, 2023 — Revel in the staggering beauty and surprising behaviors featured in this gallery of our favorite images. Also check out the story behind each shot.
A bright yellow female Baltimore Oriole with a clump of thin light strands held in her bill perches at the end of a branch and faces to the right in the frame. The strands billow around her, slightly out of focus, in front of a blurred green background.
News

Audubon Announces 2023 Audubon Photography Awards Winners

By National Audubon Society
June 21, 2023 — Premiere North American bird photography competition features stunning photos and videos from professionals, amateurs, and young people.
A bright yellow female Baltimore Oriole with a clump of thin light strands held in her bill perches at the end of a branch and faces to the right in the frame. The strands billow around her, slightly out of focus, in front of a blurred green background.
Audubon Photography Awards

The 2023 Audubon Photography Awards: Winners and Honorable Mentions

By The Editors
June 21, 2023 — We pored through thousands of entries for this year’s contest. The best images show birds going about their business in the most glorious ways.
Audubon Photography Awards

What Does Generative AI Mean for Bird and Nature Photography?

By Allen Murabayashi
June 21, 2023 — Soon we may not be able to easily tell if a bird photo is real or fake. And that poses fundamental questions that the wildlife photography field must grapple with.
News

Appreciate These Magnificent Avian Nests—and the Next One You Find in the Field

By Hannah Waters
March 06, 2023 — Birds build an amazing variety of nest types, and each construction is a work of art.
A Cactus Wren perches atop a broken branch, holding a large, messy mass of downy feathers in its beak, with the feathers covering up the front of its face. The wren is a medium-sized songbird, mostly brown with darker stripes and spots and with a big white eyebrow.
Audubon Photography Awards

Our Favorite Fascinating Bird Behaviors from the 2022 Audubon Photo Awards

By Kenn Kaufman
February 23, 2023 — Every year the contest attracts entries capturing rare and unusual moments in the avian world. Check out these 11 highlights.
As the sunrise creates a gradient of oranges, blues, an purples four male Sharp-tailed Grouse spread their wings, low to the ground, as they try to impress a mate.
Photography

Fall In Love With the Ancient Dance of the Sharp-tailed Grouse

By Benjamin Alva Polley
February 22, 2023 — Beguiled by the birds’ courtship ritual, wildlife photographer Noppadol Paothong makes a difficult journey to document their glory so that others can appreciate it.
Sporting a spiky crest of caramel feathers, a brown female Hooded Merganser swims vigorously while proudly displaying a large, red crayfish she just plucked from the water below. Behind her, a large plume of water raises up behind her as she prepares to take off and escape the males, not pictured, that are after her meal.
Audubon Photography Awards

Our Favorite Female Bird Shots From the 2022 Audubon Photography Awards

By The Editors
February 08, 2023 — Females steal the spotlight in these 12 arresting images.
Vibrant red, juicy berries clustered at the ends of brown branches frame an American Robin, a dark-colored bird with a ruddy breast. Poised to swallow, yellow bill spread open with the tip of the yellow tongue flicking upwards, the bird reaches for a single red berry that appears to hang in mid-air.
Audubon Photography Awards

These Stellar Photos Show the Special Link Between Birds and Native Plants

By Jenny McKee
February 01, 2023 — Enjoy some of our favorite entries for the Plants for Birds category of the 2022 Audubon Photography Awards

Galleries and Photo Essays

Bird vs. Building: Portraits of Flight Gone Wrong

Minneapolis artist Miranda Brandon gives victims of bird strikes new life.

Indigo Bunting. Miranda Brandon

Peregrines—and a Photographer—Bunk Out at Chicago Man’s Apartment

A flower-box nest provides the perfect opportunity for some close-up shots of a plucky falcon family.

Peregrine Falcons. <a href="http://www.lmasseyimages.com">Luke Massey </a>

Who’s Who?

These owls may wear the same game face, but when it comes to personality, they’re as different as day and night.

Photos: Brad Wilson